Making the Grade
by Alexandri
Summary: One-shot future fic. Joan's waiting to get her grades from college. Sucky summary, cute story (I hope).


A/N: First, I wrote this some time ago for _Starting Over_ and decided not to use it. But I liked the scenario so much, I thought I'd use it as a one-shot. Second (and more important), I wanted to announce that I won't be posting again anytime soon. The chapters, though already outlined, are beginning to shift and merge. Then there are the new stories that are coming to mind. In short, there's just a bunch of confusion in general so I'm going to work on several chapters at once and hope that'll help me sort some things out. So be patient with me. Anyway, happy reading and writing to all and I hope you like this. It's pretty light and fluffy. Alexandri

"Did you hear that?"

"No," Grace, Kevin, and Adam said in unison without looking up. For the past hour, Joan had alternately asked the question and flipped restlessly through her unwanted _People_ magazine. Sometimes, she'd try to escape to the living room, but Adam or Grace usually managed to head her off and keep her in the kitchen.

"Why is Joan so anxious for the mail to get here again?" Kevin asked from the refrigerator where he was getting them all sodas.

Adam opened his mouth to answer, but Joan cut him off. "For the hundredth time, I need to know my grades, especially for my Italian and Philosophy of Religion classes."

Kevin came back to the table and passed out the drinks. "But philosophy isn't even your major."

"So. I really wanted to do well in that class. Both of them really and . . . wait a minute." Joan cocked her head toward the living room. "You guys heard that, right?"

"No," they said, Kevin in confusion, Grace in frustration, and Adam in amusement. Of the three, he knew how important this semester had been to her. He'd been her study partner.

Joan stood and leaned across the table. She plopped her magazine in a surprised Grace's lap. "I know I heard something that time," she said as she bolted for the mailbox.

Ignoring Adam's laughter, Grace tossed the magazine on the table and called, "What's with the supersonic hearing?" She looked at Kevin for an answer since neither Joan nor Adam offered one.

Kevin shrugged and took a pretzel from the bag in front of her. "She's just my sister. None of us understand her." Grace rolled her eyes, making Adam laugh harder.

Suddenly, Joan's disbelieving scream ripped through the house.

With barely a glance at each other, the three rushed toward the living room, Adam in the lead. He had just cleared the dining room when Joan came tearing through the living room, hair streaming behind her.

Just as he opened his mouth to ask what she'd gotten, Joan threw herself into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist, knocking the breath out of him.

"Thank you," she exclaimed as she hugged him. Then she pulled back and took his face in her hands. Joan beamed, radiant, like she'd just swallowed the sun. "Thank you," she murmured over and over as she showered his face with kisses.

Adjusting his precarious hold on her, Adam gave himself over to her joy.

"Thank you," she whispered one last time as she claimed his lips in a deep, passionate kiss. Adam's eyes widened slightly before fluttering closed. He was beginning to feel light-headed when Joan ended the kiss and flung her arms around his neck again, throwing him off-balance.

Stumbling backward, Adam was glad when he came to rest against the doorjamb without injuring her. "So," he said, blinking his vision clear. Kevin, Grace, and Joan's parents, lured downstairs by Joan's scream, stared at them in amused astonishment. "I take it you passed."

"No," she said, pulling back to grin at him.

"No?" If she hadn't passed, why was she so elated?

Joan held up her report card and danced it before his eyes. "I aced them! All of them. I got straight A's."

"Straight A's?"

Nodding, she squealed and bounced in his arms.

Adam groaned. "Jane, I love you but I have to put you down now."

"Sorry," she said as she slid to her feet. She stuffed her report card in his hand. "I did it," she whispered again.

"I knew you would," he whispered back as her parents congratulated her.

"Weird girlfriend you have there, Rove," Grace teased.

"Yep, definitely strange," Kevin added.

"She may be my weird girlfriend, but she's your weird best friend and your weird sister," Adam said, pointing at each one in turn. "And we love her for it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Kevin answered as he pulled the still glowing Joan into his lap for a congratulatory hug.

"I need to celebrate," Joan announced as she scrambled out of Kevin's lap.

"What do you want to do?" Adam asked.

After a moment's thought, she glanced shyly at him. "Can we go get slurpees?"


End file.
